It is a term constantly spoken of in entrepreneurial circles. And when you are growing your business, you can find yourself being torn in so many different directions, it can be a struggle to focus on the big picture. Big-picture thinking is fundamental to any successful business. It’s not just about avoiding the whole idea of micromanagement, but it’s about focusing on the organization of what it stands for in a very simple sense, but then providing the means necessary to serve this vision. Simplistic in theory, but difficult in implementation. How can you start to serve the image and the bigger picture, rather than focusing on small aspects, which will hinder numerous components of your business?
Look At Your Weaknesses
The reason something can’t be completed isn’t due to the resources you have, but it’s what you don’t have. By looking through your negatives, and making specific choices so that these negatives are offset, not only do you think about the consequences, but you are turning the mirror onto yourself and making sure that things operate in a far smoother manner. The business struggles to pay people on time? Implement software like ELMO Cloud Payroll. The employees don’t have the skills? Send them on a course. Of course, these things require an investment. But what you can do as an exercise is…
Pretend That You’ve Got No Money
This forces you to make hard choices. By pretending that you have no money, you’ve got to go for the areas that will serve the business well. This means you’ve got to focus on each individual aspect and look at the most pressing details. When it comes to big-picture thinking, if you look at exercising the most difficult choices, especially in terms of spending money, you will see the fruits of your labor. If you think that everything is a priority, this is going to put you and the business under strain later on.
Challenge Yourself
If big-picture thinking is difficult to achieve from your perspective, you’ve got to go away from your organization and out of your comfort zone. Go for the people that challenge you, or provide you with information you don’t know. It’s these little components that will make you reappraise your infrastructure, and see what is inherently weak about your business. We may find that there’s no time to focus on the weaknesses or general failings, but if we ignore them, they will soon come out of the woodwork. It’s easy enough to say that you can do a SWOT analysis, but for so many entrepreneurs climbing up the ladder, they don’t want to challenge their abilities, because they don’t know what they’re doing. It’s through the most difficult circumstances in life in which we learn our lessons, but if you can get the leg work done, try out as many different scenarios as possible, and push yourself into those danger areas, you soon realize what is best for the business, and you will focus on the bigger picture.
We can focus on our own needs, but this is not the priority. Big-picture thinking is about the overarching theme, how each component fits into each other, and, when necessary, making those difficult decisions. If you haven’t started yet, it’s time to look beyond your peripheries and at the bigger picture.
